The Start Of A New Chapter
by VanillaAshes
Summary: Post-war and Hogwarts life had been pretty clear for Hermione, she was in a job she loved and knew made a difference. But, not everybody had had the success that she did, that including Draco Malfoy who came to her for some help. QLFC.


**Hello! This Oneshot is for Round One of Season Five of the Quidditch League Competition (QLFC).**

 **Title: The Start Of A New Chapter.**

 **Summary: Post-war and Hogwarts life had been pretty clear for Hermione, she was in a job she loved and knew made a difference. But, not everybody had had the success that she did, that including Draco Malfoy who came to her for some help. QLFC.**

 **Word Count: 2757**

 **Beta(s): Kage Kitsune; AelysAlthea; CUtopia; RawMateriel**

 **Team: Wigtown Wanderers.**

 **Positi** **on: Chaser 3.**

 **Theme: NOTPs of Chaser 1 - Dramione.**

 **Prompts: 8. [Dialogue] "If I'd wanted you to then I would have asked!"; 11. [word] Attractive; 13. [word] Liar.**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

After the war, nothing appeared to have changed. At the height of the war, Hermione and Ron had gotten really close, but they'd drifted apart afterwards, returning to being friends. She would always hold him in her heart, but they would never be anything more.

Hermione Granger deemed herself a successful business woman. After graduating from Hogwarts: she went to work in the ministry, which hadn't always been her plan. However, she had received a few offers straight after the war, even before she'd decided to return to Hogwarts to complete her studies. She'd elected to go into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and hadn't regretted it since - it had also offered her the adequate chance she needed to enforce her S.P.E.W. movement.

Her time at Hogwarts had been interesting. She spent more time with those she'd missed the chance to get close to before, as her year was combined with the year below and was also reduced in numbers. Of course, most of that time was occupied by Ginny, but she was more open to talking with everybody now - including those in Slytherin who had once bullied her. She wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge.

Even so, it had been over a year since graduating and she had gradually gone back to spending the majority of her free time with Harry and the Weasley's, which was why she found herself staring up at Draco Malfoy in confusion when she found him knocking on her door at work.

"What are you doing here?" She asked bluntly. She hadn't expected anybody to visit her at work, let alone Malfoy. Hermione searched her brain for anything to explain his presence: did he have a job in the ministry and was just dropping off work? She didn't remember hearing that he was starting there.

Draco blinked, his mouth hanging open slightly. She realised she must've interrupted him mid-greeting. "May I have a word with you?" he asked politely. The distance she detected in his voice was emphasised in his body language as he folded his arms like a barrier between them. He coolly waited until she nodded before stepping into her office and taking a seat. This was the first time that Hermione regretted charming her door to close automatically; she would rather withstand the noise from outside her office right now than be alone in a room with him. "I know I am the last person you would want to see." Only semi-true, there were worse people. "But I was wondering if you could help me with something."

 _Ah. There it is. He's here for a favour_. Hermione felt more at ease now that she knew why he was here. Sure, Draco Malfoy wasn't the enemy, but they weren't friends either. They had spoken over the last year of Hogwarts, but it was always purely about the work, and the fact that they had to partner up in one or two classes. "A favour? And what would that be, Malfoy?" she asked professionally, organising her paperwork into easier piles to tackle later.

"I have always wanted to work in the ministry," Draco revealed to her and she could almost guess where he was going with this. "It's never been a huge passion of mine, but that's where I envisioned myself since I was young. It seems that I have been blacklisted by most of the departments and my application is not even looked at. I was wondering if you would be able to guide me into an appropriate direction of any department who would at least consider me."

Hermione knew he had the grades to be accepted into most of the department and instantly found it unfair and rude for them to blacklist anybody. But her curiosity got the better of her and she had further questions to ask before looking into this for him. "Why are you coming to me about this? Did Harry say no?"

Draco shifted in his chair to seem more comfortable; it almost appeared as if he owned it himself, but after a while of studying with him, she knew it was how he looked when he was at ease. It was how he'd been raised. She wasn't sure how she felt about him being at ease here, but didn't question it. "I didn't go to Potter regarding this," Draco finally admitted, and she couldn't help but admire the notion. "He's a great man, and I know he'd try to help. But I don't want to get a job because Harry Potter asked." He paused. "You are one of the most honest, trustworthy and hardworking individuals I know. I'm not asking you to fix this for me, and I know it's a lot to ask for considering my role in the past, but I hoped someone would look at this without prejudice."

Hermione had to pause for a moment at him complimenting her in more than one way - though she appreciated him knowing that she was not a liar. Then again, if she was being skeptical, she would suppose he was trying to butter her up with a small compliment to entice her into helping him. She moved a pile of her paperwork out of the way, pushing it towards the end of the desk to allow herself some more room to take a lot at what vacancies there were at the Ministry. "You want my help because I'm not a liar?" she asked rhetorically, given that there were currently quite a few vacancies open and as far as she knew, all of them would be willing to give Draco a fair standing. "Which departments did you apply for?" she asked him, looking up.

Draco stared at her intensely for a few moments, she could see the surprise in his eyes at her willingness to help him. He had always been prepared as far as she could remember and today was no different as he pulled out a list and handed it to her, which included the dates he applied. She instantly understood why he thought he was being discriminated against; from looking at this list, she knew it was true. It wasn't her place to tell him that though, so she would look into it further to see if there was a specific reason behind this or not.

"Do you have any of the applications with you?" she requested, only to knock over an unfortunately large pile of paperwork off her desk as she reached for it. Hermione closed her eyes as she released a long breath before moving to pick them up. Draco had already bent down to help her with the obvious intention to try and keep them organised somehow. "I've got this," she told him, biting her lip at how disorganised they had already become.

"I don't mind," he replied kindly, but his organising was different from hers and this particular pile of paperwork had been a headache already.

"I've got it," she said pointedly. He looked at her for a second.

"I-"

"If I'd wanted you to then I would have asked!" Hermione stated, definitely too rudely for this situation. After placing the paperwork down on a different side, she turned to look at him, offering an apologetic smile. "I needed them to go into a certain order. You were doing it wrong." That had sounded softer in her head.

Draco gave her a small nod, looking very out of place now as he stood there. "My apologies, I did not wish to disturb you," he said, offering her a small nod before walking from the room.

Hermione ran a hand over her face as she took a breath. Well, she'd thoroughly messed that up. As she sat back down, she looked over the applications he'd supplied when she had been distracted. Whilst it wasn't in her job description to look into inequalities in employment, if she didn't fight for them in humans, what right did she have to fight for the equality rights of house elves?

* * *

Hermione had been pleasantly surprised when she'd discovered that Draco was not living at Malfoy Manor. She didn't think she could ever return there. It made it a lot easier to choose to go talk to him.

Whilst she wasn't usually the type of person to just turn up on somebody's doorstep unannounced, he'd shown up to her office the day before without an appointment. The house he lived in reminded her of Sirius' house more than Malfoy Manor, though it was still in a predominately wizarding community. There was a small part of her that hoped nobody recognised her as she walked up to Draco's door, but a larger part didn't care.

The door opened before she reached it, with Draco standing there in the most casual clothes she had ever seen him in; black fitted jogging bottoms and a fitted grey top. Though he didn't look like he'd been exercising, maybe he had been planning to. "Good morning, Granger," he greeted politely as he moved to one side. "Come on in."

Hermione offered him a smile as she stepped into his house; the ceilings were lower than Sirius' had been, and it was generally lighter and seemed homey. "Thank you," she replied as she walked further inside, opting to go through the first door which led into a sitting room.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked her, hovering in the doorway. When she shook her head he walked in and took a seat in a grey armchair, leaving a matching couch for her. "How can I help you?"

"Actually, I'm here to help you," she replied, pulling out the paperwork. "I had a talk with a few of the departments you applied for and they're willing to interview you."

Draco stared at her silently for a few moments before accepting the paperwork and looking down at it. There was a long, awkward silence and Hermione almost regretted coming. Now that she'd done what he'd had asked of her, there wasn't anything else to say. And given his first instinct was not to say thank you, there wasn't much else she wished to discuss. "I only asked for you to recommend a department," he finally said with open displeasure.

Hermione blinked and stood up. She'd expected at least a little gratitude instead of him saying she did something wrong. She didn't have any words for him right now - some people never changed.

He rose with her and went on: "I appreciate it, but I didn't want you to publically involve yourself with me - not whilst I'm still outcast."

"Outcast?" Hermione repeated. Her words came out posed as a question as she crossed her arms. She knew that Draco had changed, but sometimes she didn't know how to talk to him. Though the conversation was quickly moving out of her comfort zone, she was intrigued.

Draco looked at her as if she should know what he was talking about, and in truth: she did know. There were loads of former Death Eaters who had a really difficult time after Voldemort was defeated. In her opinion: it was more complicated for those who weren't sent to Azkaban. "Thank you for this, Granger."

"You can call me Hermione," she said without hesitation. She'd never been fond of the use of surnames, and hers reminded her of her parents. "I hope that we're both able to put the past behind us and become…" She paused slightly. What did she want? Friends? More than that? She liked this version of Draco, the post-war one who wasn't having his strings pulled by his family.

But, that didn't erase the past: him calling her a Mudblood, and making her early Hogwarts life harder than necessary. How much could she blame on him? How much could she forgive? How much would the world forgive? "Friends," she decided. There was no need to reveal any sort of feelings for him she might have. Although, him coming to her for help had made her curious as to what was going on in his mind.

"You want us to be friends?" Draco questioned, tilting his head as he crossed the room away from her. The physical distance seemed to represent the mental span between them. There had been several times where she'd avoided him, and to now be offering companionship was even a surprise to herself. But, she wasn't going to judge him on past actions and wanted to keep an open mind.

"Yes," she replied. "We don't have to be-" She stopped speaking when he turned his attention back to her, his blue-grey eyes staring right into her chocolate ones. She had to wonder what life would be like right now if they'd never had the Pureblood/Muggleborn tension between them. Hermione wasn't a shy person, but she was cautious. She didn't want to make a fool out of herself.

When she didn't continue speaking, after a few seconds of absolute silence: he spoke. "What do you do with your friends?"

That was a question that Hermione hadn't expected. Every friendship differed; she and Ginny spent a lot of time talking about guys, though mainly Harry at the moment since they started to officially date again. In contrast, she wouldn't dare to discuss guys with Ron. "Talk about our lives, spent time together over lunch, dinner or a picnic…" she listed, trailing off, realising the mention of food was due to her being hungry. She didn't always meet up with her friends to eat. In fact, that was hardly ever the purpose.

"That sounds like dating," Draco observed. It was a harmless comment, she knew. It was evident from the thoughtful expression of his face, she could tell he was ready to accept the offer of friendship, she continued to speak before he had the chance.

"I think dating involves more than just that, which we both know you wouldn't be up for," Hermione said, a moment later wished she'd added that they both wouldn't be up for it. But if she corrected what she said now it would draw more attention to it.

Draco continued to pace about the room, now moving back towards her, his eyes still boring into hers. "My father would definitely not consider it. But I'm not him and we don't share the same values or ideals."

What did he mean by that? She'd much preferred him when he had been direct with his feelings – sure they'd usually consisted of hate, but she knew exactly what he was getting at. "Meaning?" she asked calmly, opting to sit back down on the couch instead of standing in the middle of his living room.

"That there's nothing applicable that would rule out us dating," he answered very bluntly. "You're attractive, honest, intelligent, and can put up with the bullshit that comes along with me."

Hermione was half pleased she'd already sat down, as hearing those words so clearly from him was shocking. However, she also wished she'd been standing as it would be easier to make her leave if required. He'd repeated the compliments he'd given her the previous day, though with the addition of that regarding her looks. She knew she'd been an ugly duckling when she was younger and was confident in her own skin, but that didn't mean being called attractive made her stop for a few moments. "You've changed," she commented.

"You haven't," he replied instantly, sitting on the far edge of the couch. He kept the distance between them, though still being closer than they had been so far.

"I have," she corrected, turning her body slightly to face him more directly. "This world is very different than the one I was introduced to when I was eleven. A lot of it changed for the better, but not all of it. I've changed continuously, too, and so have you, and we will continue to change and adapt to live."

Draco appraised her for a few moments before nodding and taking a breath. "Will you go out with me?" he asked simply. His voice was distant as he spoke, but his eyes showed he was serious and sincere.

Hermione should have thought through this offer thoroughly: weighed up the pros and cons, looked for any ulterior motives. But she didn't. Life was too short to second guess everything. "Yes." There was no hesitation in her voice as she saw his lips turn upwards. She knew that this was the start of a new chapter.

The end.

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 **Thank you very much for reading! I hope you liked it!**


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